Friday, April 22, 2016

Greetings Sheepdogs, As a parent, I thought you should read this.---"Dear Parents: Here’s Some Hard Lessons
From Haruka Weiser’s Murder"http://beta.townhall.com/columnists/douggiles/2016/04/10/dear-parents-heres-some-hard-lessons-from-haruka-weisers-murder-n2145854?utm_source=BreakingOnTownhallWidget_4&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingOnTownhall Train your daughters! Because you're not going to be there to protect her. Four days at Front Sight is fun, but not necessary. There are a lot of good instructors in your area. Check with your local gun clubs. Check the NRA Instructor's portal,http://www.nrainstructors.org/Search.aspx You don't need to shoot. The lectures for developing the proper mindset are the important thing.--- Our enemies monitor all church web sites continuously. (This was mentioned at the Sheepdog seminar. So, I am not citing classified sources.) The United Methodist Church "declared" all of their churches to be "weapons-free". Within hours of the declaration, the Jihadist chat rooms were passing the word to add the Methodist churches to their target lists. It's as if the Methodist bishops never read their Bibles; Luke 22:36, Nehemiah 4:17-18,Nehemiah 4:23. Claiming that God will protect us is superstition, not Christian theology. The mass murderer who killed 9 persons at the Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, SC had initially gone to the College of Charleston to kill people, but when he saw the armed guards he thought that he would be shot and so instead went to the church because he knew that the church was a gun-free zone. Because the church had made it common knowledge that they were a gun-free zone, in hopes of attracting people to their safe-zone. You can educate the ignorant. You can medicate the crazy. But, you can't fix stupid.Please don't let stupid get your children killed.

"Should I Provide First Aid to the Attacker I Just Shot?"http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/should-i-provide-first-aid-to-the-attacker-i-just-shot As a Marine Corps military policeman,I was taught not to approach the suspect if you are alone. I would never attempt to handcuff without a partner present. I would never attempt to render first aid until the suspect was first handcuffed. I remember an incident that took 5 of us to handcuff a guy. So rendering first aid by yourself is wrong.

"Tactics Against Active Shooters"http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/images/stories/Network_2014-08.pdfExcerpt: Those officers were not trained in positioning at all. The report itself is very nicely done with a lot of diagrams and it is very informative and descriptive, but the conclusions the report drew are entirely false. If you look at the layout, those officers just were not trained in how they should have positioned themselves. - That is a mistake that even a lot of police officers don’t understand. They feel they have been trained that they have to verbalize prior to engaging in gunfire. In exigent circumstances, that simply is not true. As Tom Givens says, most people’s training comes from TV and it is all wrong. Couple that with people who are only marginally skilled and don’t have confidence, what are they going to do? They are going to try to close and that is the wrong solution, I think, in most cases. - Specifically, if we don’t train people to shoot the head, I do not think they will. Running our mouth about it without doing it on the range is ridiculous.- ... will refer again to Bill Rogers. His concept is that you have to make a plan before you make a move. The way he puts it, “I’ll solve it when I get there." has killed an awful lot of people. When you get there, you are no longer able to solve it.

***** Techniques *****

Using your front sight as a speed gauge
(excerpt from a training letter to his students)by Dr. Ignatius Piazza"... how fast can you shoot and still maintain a hand-span size group? Your speed depends on how accurately you must shoot. Generally, more accuracy requires more time. The good news is you have a gauge right on the weapon which will tell you how fast to go. It's your front sight. If you present your weapon and see a very small front sight against a large thoracic cavity, you can shoot very rapidly and still guarantee the hits. On the other hand, if you see a very large front sight against a tiny target, such as a target at great distance, you need to slow down to guarantee the hits. Generally, a small target is a function of distance, but not always. A hostage situation at close range would also require you to take a slow, very accurate shot. So, even at conversational distances you may need to shoot slowly, depending on the size of the target. ..." When Dr. Piazza talks about shooting slowly, he is referring to the trigger press. The presentation is always fast, which includes taking the slack out of the trigger. It is only the trigger press that slows down to ensure the surprise break, which guarantees the accurate hit.

"Tap, Rack, Bang" is wrong. Anyone teaching it is not teaching best practices.The shooting, "Bang", should always be an intellectual decision. Never a reflex response to something else, such as a malfunction. I know there are a lot of YouTube.com videos demonstrating "Tap, Rack, Bang". They are wrong. I know there are a lot of schools and individual instructors teaching "Tap, Rack, Bang". They are wrong. The NRA teaches "Tap, Rack, Assess".Front Sight teaches "Tap, Rack-flip, Point".The shooting, "Bang", should not be part of the drill, because if you practice it thousands of times, you will not be able to override your training in a high stress situation. Which means you will fire, "Bang", even when you should not. That's why we train, so that nothing can override our programmed reflex responses. Because, only our programmed reflex responses are fast enough to allow us to win. If you don't understand this or disagree,please contact me. We are responsible for what we teach. We can be sued for what we teach. It's called "professional liability".
You should be carrying insurance for
professional liability, in addition to general
liability.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Greetings Sheepdogs, I just finished, 4/1/16, reading "Fighting Smarter" by Tom Givens. His words of wisdom are scattered below, some out of context, but poignant. You should get his book.http://rangemaster.com/fighting-smarter/

***** Mindset *****

Your main enemy is reaction time.

Believe me, if you have internalized that a specific person is an actual threat to your life,but that you have the means to stop him if need be, it gets easier to mentally deal with the situation.

This is how you win fights, by being mentally prepared to win.

The other nagging self-doubt concerns over-reacting and shooting someone under unjustifiable circumstances. If you are reading this, that will not happen. Citizens who are responsible enough to obtain carry permits, seek expensive training, making time for practice sessions, etc. are simply too honest, caring, and self disciplined to shoot people without just cause.

In fact, for many the problem they will face is the exact opposite of being "trigger happy". Believe it or not, every day, people who are armed and know how to use their weapons, and who have a need to use their weapons to save their lives, fail to do so and die as a result. This happens to both private citizens and police officers alike.

Many people don't realize that your awareness skills are more important than your marksmanship skills. Well, you can't shoot something you don't know is there, or don't know it needs to be shot!

Shame on you if you get a speeding ticket! You should've seen the cop long before he could get a radar reading on you. If that were your girlfriend's husband behind that bush with a rifle instead of a cop with a radar gun, you'd be dead now!

***** Training *****

Proper training ingrains the proper responses. Repetition is the mother of all skill. With skill comes confidence. With confidence comes the ability to think under pressure and make sound tactical decisions.

Practice builds skill, skill builds confidence.

Panic is simply the lack of a pre-programmed response.

If you make tactical decisions every day of your life, they will come easily to you if you find yourself in dangerous circumstances. If you have never practiced this decision making process, how do you expect to do it well under extreme stress?

What you should work on: Fast, efficient, reliable presentation of the handgun from concealment. Ability to accurately place several quick shots into an anatomically important area of the target at 3 to 5 yards. Ability to place an anatomically important hit in a reasonable amount of time beyond 7 yards out to at least 25 yards. Ability to reload quickly and efficiently. Ability to rapidly move off the line of force (sidestep) without hindering the presentation of the pistol from concealment. [I would add the ability to clear malfunctions quickly and efficiently. -- Jon Low]

The court's position is that if you have a deadly weapon it is incumbent upon you to seek proper training in its use and then to follow the rules.

***** Education *****

In fact, self defense shootings by legally armed citizens are almost always ruled justifiable by the authorities, while almost a third of police shootings are ruled questionable or improper.

According to FBI studies, probably 80% of the ones you will actually have to fight will be under the influence of drugs / alcohol / drugs and alcohol at the time. What's the good news? They're drunk and/or drugged, which plays Hell with their reflexes, reaction time, and motor coordination. They'll be relatively easy to deal with, IF you are mentally prepared (Condition Red) and have done your homework.

More Americans are murdered at work than die from any other on the job cause.

"Why is the rifle so much easier to shoot than a pistol? Easy. The rifle weighs more than its trigger pull, while the handgun weighs less than the weight of the trigger pull." -- Larry Vickers

***** Tactics *****

When holding your gun at the ready, it should be low enough to enable you to see the hands and waistline of your adversary. If there is no threat, your gun should be pointing down at the ground in front of you. If there is a threat, your gun should be pointing at the threat. You would pull your gun into a compressed ready if you fear the enemy may grab your gun.

We want to be careful about "out running our headlights" and shooting faster than we can make accurate observations and critical decisions.

***** Techniques *****

Clearing a Double Feed in an AR-15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdigQTYvGQk

---

Jon, I stumbled across this video of grabbing the slide of an assailants weapon to prevent it from cycling. Is this a viable defense technique?https://www.full30.com/video/03364ce1b56f3510e77fda481d8a94f3#Regards,Joe

Hi Joe, Grabbing the slide by itself is not a viabletechnique, as grabbing does not prevent thepistol from firing. There are many techniques for disarming. You must take a class from a competent instructorto find the technique that works best for you.The technique must be:1. Simple (so you can do it under stress)2. Reliable (it must work every time you attempt it in practice)3. Proven (it works under combat conditions against a gorilla) You need to talk to people who have used it in combat. If the technique doesn't satisfy these conditions,keep searching. You definitely want to move your body inone direction and push the pistol in the oppositedirection. If you can get two hands on the pistol,you want to twist it so it points back at the enemy. And then yank. But, grabbing the enemy's pistol is not easy. It requires a lot of practice. Gouging the eyes, or palm striking the nose orchin to drive the assailant's head back with yourother hand may be a better option than attemptinga disarm with two hands. It's always a judgment call, based on thecircumstances. Gouging the eyes to blind the opponent isalways my first thought. Drive your fingersin and pop those eyeballs and pull them outof the eye sockets. Statistically speaking,you'll be saving his future victims $800,000of pain, suffering, and property loss.Cheers,Jon

--- I believe in diversity of opinion. So, I invite your attention to the following video by Rick Gore,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgRyNTf0Vvc&ebc=ANyPxKqtvq5m_2Py5BxYLHq2xdslRunvNmDnaew1TlGhylWtdBICsEdSFKjuzaD0oTrtFuLtZcXJ1KX9KUxB78WD_dbOSTvClQspeaking against the retention Sul position that the NRA (and I) has been teaching for the past several years for holding your pistol while scanning and operating around other friendlies.

***** Gear *****

Yes, you need electronic ear muffs. Don't think about getting a pair. Just do it. Not being able to hear the safety officer's commands is dangerous.

A sidearm must be reliable, effective, portable, and ergonomic. Everything else is gravy.

"All guns are made for killing." This is nonsense.

The purpose of a high capacity magazine is not to allow you to shoot more. It's real purpose is to allow you to reload less often.

Visually inspect your ammo. Remove your barrel/chamber from your pistol and use it as a gauge to check your ammo. Do the cartridges fit in the chamber?

For those who like to say that revolvers are more reliable than pistols, Mr. Givens gives us two pages of realistic revolver malfunctions, none of which can be cleared during the gunfight. Revolvers are simply old technology that has been superseded by the technology of the modern pistol.

A high capacity handgun helps avoid the dread disease, Ammunition Deficit Disorder, which can be fatal.

Your First Handgunhttp://www.range365.com/your-first-handgun?image=2

Carry gear wears outhttp://www.corneredcat.com/gear-check/

Mitch Rosen has outside the belt, inside the waistband, and between the waistband and the belt holsters.http://www.mitchrosen.com/products/holsters/

I've had many years of good service from this holster.http://kramerleather.com/productDetail.cfm?productID=7&categoryID=23

Snake skin grips for your pistol.http://www.lostfortygrips.com/

***** Instructors *****

All safety comes down to Muzzle Discipline (MUZZLE!) and Trigger Finger Discipline (FINGER!).

***** Pedagogy *****

Tips for Teaching Women to Shoot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVFWn4D_OMY Colleene Barnett is correct when she says there are several techniques for doing any one of the administrative operations. So, if the person is weak, arthritic, missing fingers, etc., show them a different technique. If you don't know the different techniques, take a class (or read my lesson plans) and learn them before taking your newbie to the range. If you can't help them to succeed, you're not doing them any favors.

Suspect Pulls Fake Gun, Store Clerk Pulls Real Onehttp://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/03/30/video-suspect-pulls-fake-gun-store-clerk-pulls-real-one/Excerpt: Des Plaines Police Chief Bill Kushner says, “Perpetrators are going to get killed as a result of crimes with air soft guns and they’re not going be the victims, they’re going to be the offenders.”

Underwater Bullets at 27,000 frames per secondhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OubvTOHWTms Great examples of fluid physics.

AK-47 Underwater at 27,450 frames per secondhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp5gdUHFGIQ A layman's explanation of the physics.

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease that is invariably fatal." -- Jeff Cooper

The latest lesson plan is now onhttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/474513